Shane Carden navigated his way through the past two weeks under a growing cloud of doubt.

After East Carolina suffered a frustrating home loss to Virginia Tech, during which Carden and his offensive teammates spent the majority of the game in neutral, much of the Pirate Nation's swagger that historically fueled the program had seemingly faded.

Some of that can be attributed to the series of opportunities that fell literally through the Pirates’ fingertips against the Hokies. Even more can be traced to East Carolina’s collective misfortune against schools from the power conferences dating back to 2008.

The lone win since ECU routed West Virginia in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium five years ago was in overtime against N.C. State in 2010. Since then it’s been disappointment after disappointment for a fan base that thrives on challenging neighboring schools from BCS AQ conferences.

Given the recent pattern of discouragement, to some degree you can understand the gradual shift in mindset. And with the Pirates set to visit Chapel Hill — somewhere ECU hasn’t won since long before any of its current players were born — why would this game be any different than most trips to Kenan Stadium?

Because that’s not how East Carolina students and alums are programmed to think. It’s a good thing their football team didn’t let the psychological shift of its supporters lead it down a path of despair.

“This was an awesome win,” Carden said after carving up the North Carolina defense with 376 yards and six combined touchdowns in a 55-31 rout. “This one is for Pirate Nation. There are a lot of people, some even at our own university that didn’t have a lot of faith in us going into this week, but we always did.

“We always listen to Coach Ruff and don’t listen to all the noise, good or bad. We’ve heard both this year. We’ll hear good now after this game. We heard bad after (Virginia Tech). We just played our hearts out.”

Of course, more has been at play for ECU fans than just a thread of losses to AQ schools. The changing climate within college athletics hasn’t been one from which East Carolina has greatly benefited, and it’s no doubt weighed heavily on the heartstrings of the Pirates’ passionate supporters.

The conference train that drives the direction of college football — and ultimately intercollegiate athletics as a whole — left the Pirates standing ticketless at the station. Their consolation was second-class status in a league that ultimately is the reinvention of the one it is leaving.

Even the conference name is nearly the same.

With it comes a fraction of the television revenue heaped upon the power conferences, inferior access to the higher profile bowls and a laundry list of media punch lines to rub salt in those festering wounds. It’s enough to cause anyone to tuck into a shell of self-preservation and simply go through the proverbial motions.

Well, anyone but ECU.

East Carolina is a university and athletics program that “did” when everyone else said it “couldn’t.” Regardless of the obstacles the University of North Carolina, the state’s General Assembly, or anyone else has thrown in ECU’s path, those who passionately took the ores of the Pirate ship found ways around them.

They did so because they emphatically believed in a collective cause to build a major university that would educate some of the nation’s best doctors as well as professionals in other fields, while simultaneously cultivating a major athletics program around which alums, students, and the greater community could rally.

Instead of asking “Why?,” ECU always asked “Why not?”

What Carden and Company did Saturday in Chapel Hill reminded me of the Pirates’ "We Believe" battle cry in 1991, the very mantra that ultimately led me to choose ECU as my college home. And it wasn’t Jeff Blake’s famous pass to Luke Fisher that solidified my choice.

It was that memorable chant that reverberated around Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium when the Pirates otherwise seemed dead in the water in the Peach Bowl. I’m convinced it propelled Fisher across that goal line, and ECU past the Wolfpack and into the Top 10.

In theory, East Carolina probably shouldn’t have beaten N.C. State that day. Just like it probably shouldn’t have beaten North Carolina Saturday, much less embarrassed the Tar Heels on their home turf.

But every theory has its holes, something East Carolina has repeatedly proven during its 100-plus years journey. The problem plaguing ECU’s fans of late hasn’t been that they don’t love their Pirates, but that they have drifted towards accepting the cards that have been dealt.

ECU proved Saturday it was a superior team to North Carolina, one with better talent up and down its roster. It also delivered a timely message to Pirates fans and me alike.

This football team appears prepared to roll up its sleeves and do the necessary hard work. And on a picture perfect afternoon in Chapel Hill, it was a timely message to a fan base that needed a pick-me-up.